A sports emblem is more than just an attractive picture. A logo, symbol, or any sports mark must create a quality and compelling visual narrative and a unique story, make a meaningful contribution to the fan community, and effectively fulfill commercial objectives. This applies to the NBA, where the vibrancy of the game and competitive spirit permeates every game, championship, and competition. Complemented by colorful emblems of participating teams, each sporting event is forever imprinted in the memory of fans and spectators, as well as the results of past games. Immersing themselves in the special world of basketball team emblems, NBA members realize that each emblem has an important purpose – to attractively represent a team, city, symbol, or character in the best possible way. With the right graphics, players, and teams have a real opportunity to stand out from the competition. The most effective and original graphics are remembered for the first time and remain in the memory of spectators and fans forever.
10 Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers began as a basketball team from Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the first emblem featuring the silhouette of their region. After moving to California in the 1960s, the team changed its look, adopting a blue and white wordmark as its emblem. The predecessor of the modern emblem was the image of the first Lakers badge in 1967 in the form of a yellow basketball. The modern version differed from the darker color and muted shades of the corporate colors. Changes in the emblem occurred in 1976 when the colors of the emblem acquired brightness and saturation. The modern version was developed in 2001. All shades were redesigned, which allowed us to get a perfect yellow-purple palette that made the sign the most recognizable. The ball has acquired a rich yellow color; its lines and the word marking on the front side of the image – the full name of the team is made in a deep purple shade. The text is made with a right slant, symbolizing the speed of the game and the dynamics of movement. To enhance this effect, short dashes of different sizes are made to the left of each element of the letters of the word Lakers.
9 Boston Celtics
The modern logo of the American basketball team Boston Celtics, founded in 1946, is made in a very attractive form, which is facilitated by the personality of its cunning character. The appearance of the laughing leprechaun in the early 1950s was a tribute to the large Irish diaspora in Boston. This was the basis for the choice of the team’s name, which translates to “Celts.” The green background filling the circle, in front of which a character with a pipe in his mouth and spinning a basketball on his index finger is depicted, was chosen to commemorate the history of the club, whose first emblem was a green circle with a shamrock. The modern version of the emblem was installed in 1996 in honor of the club’s 50th anniversary. It uses gold, black, and brown colors in addition to green and white. To commemorate its successful past, the brand uses the image of a green shamrock on the hat and clothing of a leprechaun. The ball and his walking stick are brown in color. The full name of the club is written in white paint in a green circle behind the character. All elements are balanced and refined, giving the logo a flawless professional look and showcasing the club’s core values, traditions, and roots.
8 Miami Heat
In 1988, the Miami Heat, a professional basketball club based in Miami, Florida, was founded, and today, it uses an updated version of the emblem designed in its early days. The new emblem retains its original concept, style features, and color palette. The Miami Heat wordmark has been rendered in a bold black sans serif font with a slight slant to the right. The image is a dark red basketball with orange flames bursting out of its bottom and flying into a stylized basketball hoop. Thanks to modern technology, the contours of the image acquired perfect clarity, and the proportions of all elements provided a harmonious visual perception of the emblem. The symbolic meaning of the emblem is speed, strength, and precision, characteristic of the team’s game.
7 Charlotte Hornets
NBA basketball team Charlotte Hornets, founded in 1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina, has an interesting history. It bore this name from 1998 to 2004, which corresponded to its first emblem. In the following decades, the team changed its name to the Charlotte Bobcats, necessitating a complete identity change. But in 2014, it returned to the original version, a rendition that gained modernity, style, and some sophistication when the emblem is rendered in dark turquoise and deep blue. The character of the updated brand is a formidable alien hornet with sharp white wings. On his paws, he carries a sign with a two-level inscription – Charlotte Hornets, which is made in a specially designed, non-standard font. Due to its quirkiness, this wordmark has ensured that the brand’s emblem is unique and easy to remember.
6 Phoenix Suns
In 2013, the Phoenix Suns basketball team from Phoenix, Arizona, unveiled their new logo based on the previous version. It is distinguished by a radically rethought color palette. The emblem, made in a strict black and white color scheme, in which the accent element was the image of an orange ball punching on a black background light orange hole in the shape of a star, has become more attractive and memorable. The composition of the ball and the hole became a kind of stylized reflection of the “shining sun,” which provided a very strong accent, emphasizing what is most important for the brand in sports. The shape of the team’s emblem resembles a black and white geometric crest, setting the club apart from similar clubs that prefer bright colors and original designs.
5 Washington Wizards
After several years of experimentation, the Washington Wizards basketball club from Washington, D.C., created an original, eye-catching, confident, modern design for their crest. Since its formation in 1961, the team has changed its name six times; the current one was adopted in 1997, and its style has become a worthy successor to the previous rendition. While retaining the iconicity and recognizability of its predecessor, the new logo with the changed name has acquired a surprisingly attractive graphic characterized by simplicity of execution and ease of remembering. The perfectly shaped round medallion, rendered in the patriotic blue-red-white colors of the American flag, evokes positive emotions for all American fans. The accent star in the central part of the composition is made in a gradient gray color, and the voluminous inscription gives the logo an additional appeal. The contrasting and strongest color in the color palette – white – was softened by reducing its brightness, allowing the viewer to more fully perceive the entire composition.
4 Milwaukee Bucks
One of the members of an NBA sports club sporting an original iconic symbol is a basketball team from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded in 1968 under the name Milwaukee Bucks. Its main character is a deer. This visual image became the team’s emblem when it was formed. But in 2015, the corporate identity underwent some changes, allowing the team’s symbol to show all its true power and grace of graphic design. The emblem is elegant thanks to the beige and green colors, radiating calmness and confidence. It is perfectly balanced thanks to the clean display of lines and shapes. The modern, crisp design of the deer’s head features a clean sans-serif geometric font across the bottom of the inner circle, making the image easy to read in a variety of sizes, both typographically and digitally. Because of this, the symbol effectively conveys the sense of strength and determination that characterizes the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.
3 Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are the only Canadian team in the NBA today. It has a strong and memorable logo, the first version of which was designed in 2015. Today, the team is rethinking the concept, creating a minimalistic and strong design built around a basketball whose seams look like dinosaur claw marks. In the 2020 redesign, the center portion of the badge is highlighted by an accent color combination: a dark red sword in the center and black, which is used to stitch the seams of the claw marks and the rest of the round badge. This combination added to the mood, allowing the strength of the fighting spirit to be felt, making it visual and tangible. The club name was printed in pure white to provide better color balance and proportions, as well as to enhance contrast.
2 Atlanta Hawks
One of the original bearers of a logo using bird or animal imagery is the Atlanta Hawks, a professional basketball team founded in 1946 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Over the years, the club changed its identity several times until it found its perfect logo in 2020. Its original version, created in 2015, acquired brightness and saturation of color in the modern version, as well as a high degree of contrast. As a result, it has become one of the brightest and most stylish logos in the history of the Association. The main element of the logo, made in the form of a round medallion, is a stylized image of the profile of a hawk’s head, made in white on a rich red background. The profile is placed in the central white circle of the image. For clear visual perception, the shadow effect is applied along the contour of the figure. Inside the red outer circle, bordered by a white line, the name of the club is printed in white color, executed in a thin and light openwork font with minimal kerning. It is distinguished by the presence of enlarged serifs, which draws special attention to the entire composition.
1 Chicago Bulls
The most famous American basketball team, the undisputed leader of the NBA, the professional club Chicago Bulls, has the most popular emblem in the sports environment. Founded in 1966 in Chicago, Illinois, the team has always been represented by its main mascot, Benny the Bull. He first appeared in 1969 in the color red, becoming one of the oldest characters in professional sports. In 1995, the team had another mascot – Benny’s cousin, named Da Bull, who wore the number 95 and had a more brutal facial expression. The current logo was designed in 1996 and has not undergone any further changes. It is characterized by brightness, strength, and assertiveness in the presence of brutality and provides visual balance. The dark red head and sharp horns with a white base became the main symbol of the graphic visualization of the team. Above this image is the word logo – Chicago Bulls – in black. The text is arranged on two levels, with the base placed in the center. The font used is characterized by serifs, smooth lines, and slight curves, which softens the harshness of the graphics and reduces the aggressiveness of the image.
